Our Family Christmas Vacation

Wow!! It has been a crazy week of traveling, visiting family, and relaxing.

There's a suitcase in there somewhere!
We left Camden last Thursday and headed for Van Buren. We finished up our Christmas shopping and had a great dinner with my grandparents.

Friday we spent some time relaxing and had dinner with Ginny...Valorie's mother.
Christmas eve we had lunch with my family at my grandparents house.

The we headed to Fayetteville to have Christmas eve dinner with Sean's family.

We spent some quality time with our niece and nephew.  If you can't tell...Mark loves his unlce, just a little bit.

We spent Christmas morning and lunch with my mom.  We had a delicious lunch, which consisted of prime rib, veggies, and baked squash.

We had a very Merry Christmas. . .looking forward to another great year in 2012!!

Read More

I'm Going to Be. . .

Aunt Ashley!!

My step-brother, Justin, and his wife, Tiffany, are expecting a little boy on May 6th!!

I'm so excited to have a little baby in the family!

Read More

Lake Fayetteville

The weather was so nice in Fayetteville on Wednesday so we decided to go hike the trail around Lake Fayetteville.  I'd never been around the entire lake...it was a little longer than we had anticipated but I'm glad we were able to enjoy the weather.



Read More

Wooo Pig!!

For Christmas some of my students gave me some Razorback decorations for my classroom.  I was so excited...it looks so good!!

Read More

Merry Christmas

From our home to yours!

Read More

Merry Christmas - Love, Ollie, Mister Grey, Angel, & Spud

I think this Elf Yourself video is HYSTERICAL!! It doesn't matter whose face you use. . .it's priceless.

Check ours out and create one for you and your family.

Read More

Christmas Card 2011

Read More

U Name It!

U Name It! does amazing artwork! They are two gals from Northwest Arkansas that do hand-painted canvases, furniture, crocheted items, and other fun things!  

This is a canvas that is hanging on my classroom door.  My classroom is Arkansas Razorback/sports theme so this has the Fight Song lyrics written around the shape of a razorback.  

Rachel and I also ordered Candi's shower gift from them.  This Razorback beanie is so precious and a great price! 

Definitely check out U Name It! for your Christmas needs!

Read More

Candi's Shower

Rachel and I threw a baby shower for Candi (& baby Jonathan) a couple of weeks ago.  Of course my new obsession, Pinterest, helped inspire us for the event.  We thought it turned out really cute!  Here are a few pictures of the shower.

 This was the dessert table.  We made chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels, and oreo balls.  Along with petit-fores and blue m&m's.

 Obviously this is the drink table where we had a blue punch and water.  The glasses were canning jars with Jonathan's initials on each glass.  And of course...the diaper cake.

 We had light snacks.  Hawaiian roll sandwiches, fruit skewers, and chips & dips.

 We made chocolate covered marshmallow pops as the party favors...delicious!

 And the banner. . .

Rachel made the "Dear Jonathan" cards for each person to fill out.  It turned out really cute and it will be great for his baby book.

Read More

Our Home at Christmas

This year I went with a "silver winter wonderland" theme...I guess that's what you'd call it.  I was inspired by a few ideas that I saw on Pinterest and I kind of can't stop.  I usually don't decorate that much because we're not here for at least a week of the Christmas holiday.  

These were the pictures that "inspired" my creation. . . 

and this is what was actually done!

Read More

Thanksgiving 2011

Better late than never. . . right??

I'm a little ashamed of myself. . .I did not take on picture the entire week of Thanksgiving.  We were pretty busy and I really didn't think of it.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday night in Fayetteville.  We enjoyed lunch on Thanksgiving with Sean's parents and Thursday evening with his family.  It was kind of strange this year because my mom was in Nashville so we weren't able to see her at all.  Friday we did a little shopping and then headed to my brother-in-laws to watch the game. (PITIFUL) 

Friday and Saturday night we spent in Van Buren.  It was so good to be able to see my dad.  We hadn't seen him since JULY! Definitely the longest I've gone without seeing him.  We did a little more shopping Saturday, but most of our time was spent relaxing...well, I relaxed.  Sean helped my dad replace their dishwasher and stove.  He's such a handy guy, you have to take advantage while he's around.  My step-mom always gives my dad his Christmas presents two days early so Sean can help install/set it up.  We had a good time, though.

I've got a busy weekend ahead. . .a baby shower for my friend, Candi.  I'm so excited about it! I'll definitely have pictures to come of that.

Read More

Baked Chicken Parmesan

I would not consider myself a chef, but I think this is a pretty amazing dish!

Ingredients:

•  2-4 chicken breasts 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. bread crumbs
• meatless tomato sauce - I use Prego's Three Cheese
• Shredded cheese - I use Fiesta Blend
• Al dente' spaghetti noodles

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Dip the (thawed) chicken breasts in the egg & then the bread crumbs.
3. Place them in a 9x13 baking dish.

    4.  Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts, making sure to cover completely.

    5.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

   6.  Bake 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked. 

   7.  Place chicken over a serving of al dente' noodles.

Read More

Sean's Bike-Camping Trip

Sean headed out on Friday for a weekend full of motorcycle riding and camping.

He and his good friend Eric rode to north Arkansas and back.

 Suited up & ready to go!

And he's off!

Meanwhile, while they were travelling around in the cold, fall air, Toni (Eric's girlfriend) & I enjoyed pizza, cake, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.  We had a nice Friday night in.

Read More

A Surprise Kind of Weekend

Last weekend I made a solo trip North to Fayetteville.  My whole purpose for going was to see surprise my cousin, April, whom I only see about once year.  It also happened to be the weekend before her birthday (her birthday is on Halloween)! She was in a wedding in Tulsa on Saturday and flew out of XNA on Sunday, so we were able to eat lunch and celebrate.  I was also fortunate enough to meet her girlfriend (of about 2 years) for the first time, so I was pretty excited!   

April & I

 April, Carolina, & I

  April & Aunt Becky

 April, Mom, & Russell

Checking out some pictures of us that I had framed for her.

But, not only did I get to surprise April, I was also surprised by my mother.  She took me to see West Side Story on Saturday at the Walton Arts Center.  It was wonderful! Mom and I agreed that it was probably one of the best shows we've seen to date!

Read More